Author: Dana L Brown

On March 10th I got up to see that I was only two followers away from 1000 on Twitter. For me that was a huge achievement so I put out the offer that I would highlight the 1000 follower on my weekly blog.

I come from the UK, more specifically the area around the River Dee which is the border between Wales and England. I was born right on it but consider myself Welsh and speak the language (lot of fun – very different). I was reading at a very young age and books replaced friends for large swathes of my youth.Age 18 I left home, studied Linguistics and Moral Philosophy – not high on company exec wish lists – and decided to live in France.

Now 47 (sniff) married to Béatrice, 2 daughters, 5 cats, 35 koi carp and a house made of wood on a hill-top in the Brittany countryside 🙂 I teach English at the French Officer Academy “St Cyr” – their Westpoint. I sang and composed music and lyrics for 25 years and that was great fun, more than a 1000 concerts and loads of travelling, but although lyrics are “writing” I needed something outside my comfort zone.

I’ve never tried to hide the fact that I’m not a trained writer. One day I decided I wanted to write a book, and I did. End of story? Not quite. LottieLoser turned out to be my Fairytale come true in every way imaginable. Because the most amazing thing happened; people actually liked it.

It’s funny how the success of the AMI Series gave me confidence as a writer. To be honest, I really knew very little about writing when I started, other than I liked romance. At that time I had no idea that most genres have a formula and for romance it needs a protagonist, an antagonist and a Happily Ever After. Who knew there were rules for writing?

Last week I mentioned that I was told on the Writer’s Cruise that my current novel, TheFourSeasonsofSummer, was not romance but women’s fiction, because my protagonist is married. Another eye opener. I also learned about pacing, sensual and emotional tension, and conflict, an area I already knew I struggled with.

“Don’t dump your backstory” was a big topic with the editors on the cruise, and since I like to bring in the past, I had lots of questions about that statement. Apparently it means save some for later, instead of giving it all away at once, so thankfully my Now and Then chapters in Lottie and Charlotte are okay. Whew!

At the end of the day, or the cruise in this case, this is what I took away. There are rules for writing, but like with all rules they’re subjective. Just as an artist needs to paint what they enjoy, and what brings out their passion, an author needs to write what brings them happiness. I love my series, and many of you do as well, and that’s all I ever wanted.

Would I like to be a best selling author? Heck yes, but more than anything I want to write what I love and what you, my faithful readers, enjoy. And of course I want my books to have a “meet-cute”; yep something else I learned at sea!😉

Another one of the words used a lot by the publishing professionals was Trope. I could never get a clear understanding of what it meant so I reached out to my Twitter friends, and the definition is below. Personally it’s not a word I’ll use, but at least I won’t feel stupid the next time I hear it.

The actual definition is “any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, was and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.” But it can also be used for cliches. EX: dumb jock, brooding YA hero, manic pixie dream girl…

So now you’ve learned everything that I did on the writer’s cruise, but you got the Readers Digest version. It was actually extremely enlightening and if I’d have gone on the cruise before writing LottieLoser, she would still be an idea floating in my head.

Have an amazing week and why not try a new author? Your next favorite read might be sitting on a shelf but you’ll miss it, because you won’t take a chance.

I was a Girl Scout until I was sixteen, so their motto of “Be prepared”, is ingrained in my head, and it’s a good thing it is. As you know, last week I attended a Writer’s Cruise with the idea of pitching the AMI Series to Hallmark and Netflix. I had my pitch down, my Onesheet made and was ready to WOW my books right onto TV. But there was a problem. The Hallmark representative, who I really, really wanted to meet with, didn’t come.

Robert Burns wrote a poem called ToaMouse andfromitcomestheoften used adaptation, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” And go awry is exactly what happened to my plans. So now what?

The first night I spoke with an editor from Source Books and she told me I couldn’t pitch a Books series that’s from another publisher to a new publishing house, and asked if I was working on anything outside of AMI. As it happened I was. What that meant was I had two days to work up a new pitch and “be prepared” to sell my story and me, to a literary agent or editor.

I worked day and night on the new pitch, even taking a tablet with me to Nassau and making notes throughout the day. By Thursday I was feeling confident with what I had, it was memorized and I was good to go, right? Remember about what happens with best laid plans? They go awry, and mine did right out of the block!

I write romance. At least I always have, but after my first pitch to a literary agent with The Seymour Agency, I found out that it’s not romance if there’s a married woman and a man other than her husband involved. If that’s the case it’s called Women’s Fiction, and this particular agent didn’t represent Women’s Fiction. It was a Lordy Chicken moment if there ever was one!

The good news is I did pitch the new book to an editor of a well known publishing house and she wants me to send her the first twenty pages. I have no idea where it will lead but it’s exciting, don’t you think? And I did get to talk with the Netflix representative about the AMI Series, and she made a few notes and took my Onesheet, so all was not lost.

So where does my future as an author go? I hope up and up! I learned so much last week from the professionals and other authors, and I came home eager to get back to the business of writing. And just so I’m being totally transparent, I also drank a couple of Blue Moons and a few fruity island drinks while I was gone, but all in the spirit of fellowship with the other participants.😉

This is the tagline I was prepared to use to pitch Charlotte Luce to Hallmark. “Ayoungwomansearchingforherforever, andtheempowermentshefindsinforgiveness.” Oh well, maybe someday!

When I worked for First Merchants one of the benefits they offered was continuous training, but I never expected to actually use it once I left banking. But here I am, thankful for our trainer, Jeff Curts, and what he taught us about the art of pitching because I now have an opportunity to pitch my book series to producers and publishers, and boy will that training come in handy!

A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out my office and came across WINNERSDREAM, the last book Jeff trained on before I retired. I wasn’t really sure what to do with it, but it’s not in my DNA to get rid of a book, so I started looking through it and guess what I found? Not only good information from the book’s author, Bill McDermott, but lots of notes and material on an elevator pitch, the exact thing I needed for my upcoming Writers’s Cruise.

One line from WINNERSDREAM that really stood out for me was “It’s all about execution”. All of the notes I made centered around making my dream a reality, and if the AMI Series never makes it to the big screen or TV, my dream came true the minute I held the first copy of LottieLoser in my hands. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t enlarge my dream, it just means I need to look for other avenues of execution.

Which brings us to the elevator pitch. We had to write one for Jeff, using our own dream as the theme, so of course, mine was on writing. I had an idea in my head about an article titled “When Grandma is a CEO..Chief Everything Officer”, and I wanted to pitch it to O Magazine. I felt like there were other women in my age group who had a demanding career, but also kids and grandkids, vying for her time and attention.

Jeff was the “make believe” editor from O, whom I met on an elevator, and this was my pitch to him.

Mr. Curts, my name is Dana Brown, and my dream is to be a published author. I’m a banker, a wife, a mother and a grandmother who struggles to find time for myself while staying involved in the lives of my family. I’ve written an article titled “When Grandma is CEO” and I think it’s something your readers can relate to. If you will agree to reading this draft, and sharing your insight, you’ll help me be one step closer to realizing my dream. I appreciate your time.

Well, what do you think? I’d like to say that my pitches are stronger now, but I guess time will tell. I’m not sharing the pitch I have for the Writer’s Cruise, because I want it to be fresh when I present it, and you never know who might read this blog!

Is there a moral to this story? Of course there is! The first is to never discount what you’re being taught as something irrelevant, or not important to your life, and the second is to never get rid of a book! There is a wealth of information in each and everyone, and you never know when you’re going to need it.

To Jeff Curts, who taught me so much about myself, and how to be the best that I can be, I want to say Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because of you I was a better leader, and banker, and now, a better author.

And to the producers, agents and publishers I’m going to meet while cruising the Bahamas? Watch out! There’s a CEO headed your way.😉

How do you forge the past with the present? How do you take interesting characters from 1930 and make them jump off the page in the year 1984? Marina Brown ( no relation to me) certainly knows how, and her novel, Lisbeth, is a beautifully written example of just how it should be done.

Claire Elliston is the granddaughter of a Big Daddy Charlie Elliston. Richer than dirt, and founder of the Farmers’ and Businessmen’s National Bank, he has allowed Claire to be the bank’s manager, but has no real relationship with his only living relative. And that suits Claire just fine.

As Claire struggles to rebuild a property left to her by her mother Lisbeth Elliston, daughter of Charlie, the past comes alive as Claire’s mother reaches from her grave for redemption. What evil lurks on Buena Vista, and to what cost is Claire willing to go to find out about her mother Lisbeth’s life and death?

Lisbeth is filed with naughty Southern humor, and provocative situations as it takes you from the era of the Jim Crow South, to the families trying to deal with the implications of interracial love and commitment.

Lisbeth is funny and sexy, warm and poignant, and definitely thought provoking. From Big Daddy Charlie’s hatred, to the love in the afternoon at the B & B, Lisbeth will keep you on the edge of your seat as you turn from one delightful page to the next!

I’ve got be honest here, I’m a sucker when it comes to romance. That’s why I write it and that’s why I read it. I mean, what’s not to like? That rush you get when that certain someone makes you feel as if you’re the only person in the world; it’s a pretty heady feeling. So I decided to look up the meaning of romance and this is what I found.

“A feeling of mystery and remoteness from everyday life, associated with love.”

Hmmm. Remoteness from everyday life? Associated with love, but not necessarily love. Most of us have experienced romance, and usually love is involved, but not always. So I got to thinking, if you can have romance without love, can you have love without romance?

February 2nd is my 45th wedding anniversary and in those years I’ve experienced amazing love and amazing romance, but not always at the same time. I’ve always felt the love, but as life happened in our marriage, when kids came along, and careers brought pressure, the romance took a back seat. Doesn’t mean I liked it, but between sporting events, dance lessons, music lessons; well, you get the idea, we definitely fell in the category of love without romance.

So, if I could only have one for the rest of my life, which one would I choose? The excitement of romance, or the tenderness of love? Id go with love any day of the week. Because for me, this is what true love looks like.

I had a terrible cold, and was miserable. But then so was my husband. At 3:30 am I woke him up because my swollen sinuses were making my head feel like a watermelon about to be smashed, and I needed relief. In the cold, dark morning he went downstairs and got me a decongestant, along with a hot, steamy rag for my face. And then he wrapped me up in his arms and for the next hour massaged my head and neck, until I fell back to sleep. There’s not a flower or a sonnet in the world that could have been more romantic than that.

And just for the record, I get up some mornings and find sweet notes in the coffee can! Maybe not the romantic notes I sometimes yearn for, but the ones that tell me all I need to know. After 45 years my husband still wants me, and that’s love and romance all wrapped into one!

This is a picture from our wedding, when we were young and thought the highs of romance would follow us throughout our life. And you know what? Maybe they did, because 45 years together is quite a feat, and I look forward to every one of them yet to come.

Until we read again 📚…

Blessings,

Dana L ❤️

💝The giveaway celebrating love begins on my anniversary, February 2, 2019. Be watching for the links and the #450202, and enter by sending Charlotte or Nick a valentines message through my website comment section. The WINNER will receive both of my romance novels, personally signed to them💝

A couple of weeks ago an new author I met on Twitter sent me a message telling me that our romance books were very much alike. Of course, I panicked because LottieLoser was written in my head for two years before I ever sat down at a computer, and there was no way our books could be alike! Turns out they aren’t, but there are a few similarities, and that got me thinking about just how different books in the same genre can have some of the same features, without being identical.

Romance has a set style. A protagonist, often a beautiful woman, an antagonist, a handsome man if the protagonist is a female, some conflict along the way and ends with an HEA, Happily Ever After. But the nuances, like the storyline, the character’s personalities, even the setting is all determined by the author.

So why is it that after Lottie was published I was reading a book and the protagonist had an elderly neighbor, like Lottie’s Mrs. Danvers, that she befriended? Or the times since when a book I was reading vacillated between today and another period in the characters life, and even though it was presented differently, it still felt very similar.

Then last week I was reading a brand new book and all of a sudden I thought, “Hey! This is a lot like my series.” Old friends, whose relationship ended uncomfortably meet again after several years, and you guessed it, the connection between them is still strong. There was even a little back and forth in time, but presented differently than my books do.

At first I was concerned, but pretty quickly realized that this new book was just like the ones I read after Lottie was published. I hadn’t taken anything from another author, and this one hadn’t taken anything from me. We each had a concept for a book, and when we wrote them, we each thought we were brilliantly coming up with something fresh and new.

So is there really any brand new way to present a romance story? Of course, and lots of authors find them, but there are still a lot of books out there that are totally different, but subtly the same. The good news is, if a reader falls in love with your books, they don’t seem to mind.

Until we read again📚…

Blessings,

Dana L. ❤️

💝February is the month of love so beginning February 2, my wedding anniversary, through February 13, I’m holding a giveaway for one winner to receive a signed copy of both LottieLoser and CallMeCharlotte. Be watching for more details next week and for the posted links.💝

Until 2017 I had no Facebook account. Until 2017 I had no Twitter acount, and until 2018 I had to Instagram account. I guess you could say I was a Social Media recluse; and then I wrote LottieLoser. What a difference a day makes.

I need to be really honest with you here, and tell you that I never had any intention of sharing my life over the internet. Social Media, in my opinion, was intrusive and dangerous, and I wanted no part of it. So why did writing a book make a difference? You guessed it, exposer.

Marketing and sales are kind of my thing. I did both in my previous life as a banker, and was good at them, but selling myself as an author, as well as getting Lottie into the hands of a broad sector, was going to take more. A lot more.

Having daughters who are part of Generation X was my saving grace in setting up both Facebook and Twitter accounts. I posted things related to Lottie, and even started liking and replying to other people’s posts, and before long, I was one of those annoying people with their face in their phone, watching to see what the world around me was doing. Ugh.

Then CallMeCharlotte released and I really got serious about my Social Media presence. Wait! I wasn’t serious before? Apparently not, so with a little help from my friends I’ve become more enlightened on how to use Twitter, and in 2019 I’m reinventing myself.

I’m not strong technically, and my skills with graphics could be better, but I can post words with the best of them! And thankfully those words have led me to some amazing new Social Media friends, several of whom are authors.

JerriHines…author of The Southern Legacy Series, was one of the first authors to follow me, and read and wrote an endorsement for inside LottieLoser.

DavidEdmonds…Multiple Award Winning Author of Lily of Peru and TheGirlintheGlyphs, was one of my first Social Media friends because we both published with Southern Yellow Pines Publishing. David also wrote an endorsement for Lottie.

SERose…author of the Portenous Destiny Series, follows me on every Social Media site, and even subscribes to my Blog.

WillieHandler…author of TheRoadAhead, is a Twitter guru and has been helping me with my brand. Who knew I even needed one?!

SandyBarker…author of the Someone Series, is a fresh new voice in romance, and even asked me to write a blurb for her newest book.

MekaJames…whose latest book, AnythingOnce releases January 22, actually came to The Decatur, Georgia Book Festival just to meet me. Me!

KJGillenwater is my newest Twitter author friend, and not only do we both write romance, we found out we’re going on the same writing cruise! We’ve had so much fun getting to know each other through Twitter that I know we’ll glean from each other on and after the cruise.

So where am I going with this? Well, I have to be honest again and tell you that I now enjoy Social Media in a way I never thought I would, and Twitter especially, has expanded my horizons in a whole new direction. I no longer cringe at the idea of Social Media, and while I’m still careful about posting when I’m going to be out of town, and don’t share really personal things, I now look forward to getting up every morning to see what has posted overnight. And yes, I check it throughout the day, too!

Social Media and me? Let’s just say we have an understanding. I give information to her, and she helps me get it to just the right people.🤗

Zelle and I became friends this past year through our publisher, Southern Yellow Pines, and sealed the deal at the 2018 Florida Authors and Publishers Conference in August. We share many similarities in our writing style and genre, although our characters are totally different. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed both of her books, and encourage you to try them for yourself. They are available from all the large retail channels as well as http://www.syppublishing.com

When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer?

Shortly after my daughter was born, I tossed around the idea of writing a novel, but life got in the way and raising my children took priority. It wasn’t until twenty plus years later that I was sitting at work one day and the bug bit me again. I kept my notes and writing to myself for a while. I didn’t even tell my husband

Tell
us the story of your husband finding notes around your house with bits and
pieces of ideas for a novel?

One day while we were cleaning the kitchen he ran across a scrap piece of paper that I had written the beginning of chapter one on and began reading it. I yanked it away and whispered in embarrassment that I was writing a story. He was more excited about it than I was and has been supportive all the way. It took three years to write my debut novel ‘Paisley Memories’.

How did you come up with the story-line for Paisley Memories?

I’m one of those people who can drive a car and if a
random image pops up, I’ll write a scene or story in my head. With this
particular story, I was thinking what a single, teenage, mom would do faced
with raising a child that has down syndrome alone. I didn’t write a
story-outline. It literally played out like a movie in my head and I just ran
with it.

Is
there any part of Tess, your Main Character and Paisley’s mother, that comes
from your own life?

Both of my novels, PAISLEY MEMORIES, and DANCING WITH DANDELIONS, are works of
fiction. The only similarity I have with the character Tess is that we both
have a daughter with down syndrome. It is not a recollection of my life with
her. Although, I have incorporated a few snippets of funny things she may have
said growing up or a random scene slightly
altered to fit the story.

What
is your writing process?

Do you outline the story first? I have never written an outline. I’m a fly by the seat of your pants kinda writer. I write where the story takes me. I might be working on Chapter four when something comes to mind that I want to happen later in the story and I’ll jot it down to be merged into the story later.

Are you a panster who just sits down and writes? I don’t have a scheduled time that I write. Almost every single time that I’ve designated or scheduled a time to write, something comes up. Whenever I have a free moment, and I’m not sucked into the social media world, I’m writing.

Do you write the story in your mind before you ever put pen to paper? Of course! It plays out like a movie for me and my little chubby fingers have a hard time keeping up on the keyboard.If I think too hard about a story-line, the writing reads as if it’s forced and I end up starting over.

Who
is your favorite author and why?

I think this is the hardest question for authors to
answer. For me, it varies. It really
depends on what I’m reading at the time. Currently, I’m reading Flight of the
Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown. It’s a glimpse into the life of Mary Rowlandson,
a Puritan wife that was kidnapped by
Native Americans in seventeenth-century
Massachusetts. It’s loosely based on her account retelling of the actual
events. I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

What are you currently working on?

I’m working on two novels. The third, and final, novel in my Paisley series and a historical fiction novel about a young woman who is accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692. The Paisley series is published through SYP Publishing. The historical fiction novel will be self-published.

Is writing your fulltime job?

Not at this time, but that is my goal. I relish taking extra days off from work that flow into the weekend. I’m able to get a small glimpse of what life as a full-time author will be like.

What
was your favorite book growing up?

I didn’t have a favorite. But the ones I enjoyed
reading were The Little House on the Prarie series and any books that involved
animals.

What’s
one thing you’d like to share with my readers about you, your life or your
books?

Writing has always been enjoyable for me. Even the editing process. Some authors hate that aspect of getting their manuscript ready for publication. I see it as making my baby the best it can be. I have so many story ideas rolling around in my head. As long as people enjoy reading my stories, I’ll keep writing them.